It’s the key to care planning:

Family Caregiver Alliance’s National Center on Caregiving has released a new Issue Brief on the value of paid family and medical leave to both working families and employers, and describes why this issue is taking hold in the states. The brief describes the development and initial implementation of California’s landmark paid leave law, and its usage by workers who are juggling the competing demands of jobs and caring for family members with chronic or debilitating health conditions. The brief also summarizes the progress towards similar statutes at the federal and state levels.

National Consensus Project for Caregiver Assessment: Translating Research into Policy and Practice

Routinely, people with chronic or disabling conditions are assessed by professionals in medical, health and social service settings to determine what services or treatments they need. Family caregivers, however, have not had the same experience.

The National Consensus Development Conference for Caregiver Assessment was convened by the National Center on Caregiving at Family Caregiver Alliance September 7–9, 2005 in San Francisco. The event was an intense and productive two days for the invitees, all key leaders in the field, with multi-disciplinary perspectives on the issues.

What Do We Mean By.....

Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) – everyday tasks related to personal care usually performed for oneself in the course of a normal day, including bathing, dressing, grooming, eating, walking, taking medications, and other personal care activities.

Nearly one quarter of American households provide care to relatives or friends age 50 or older. What is the fiscal toll on family caregivers who leave their jobs to provide that unpaid care? The question is addressed in a new policy brief released by FCA’s National Center on Caregiving.

According to the report, while long-term caregiving can tax the finances of any family, since ap-proximately 75 percent of caregivers are female, the economic effect is intensified for women. Women also provide “informal” (unpaid) care longer than men—in many cases, for more than five years.

Education and Events Calendar

CAREGIVER STORIES

My husband disguised it well, but I knew. I had known for the last seven or eight years. He was sixty-five and I was forty-seven. We had been married for sixteen years. The eighteen years between us never made a difference.